How Can I Keep From Singing?

“How Can I Keep From Singing?”
Single by Enya from the album Shepherd Moons
B-side	'S Fágaim Mo Bhaile Oíche Chiúin (Silent Night)
Released	1991
Recorded	1990
Genre	New Age
Length	4:24
Label	Warner Music
Writer(s)	Robert Wadsworth Lowry
Producer	Nicky Ryan
Enya singles chronology
"Caribbean Blue" 1991 "How Can I Keep from Singing?" 1991 "Book of Days" 1992

"How Can I Keep From Singing?" (listed in some hymnals by the opening line "My Life Flows On") is a Christian hymn written by American Baptist minister Robert Wadsworth Lowry in 1860. The original composition has now entered into the public domain. The song is frequently cited incorrectly as a traditional Quaker hymn.

Pete Seeger learned a version of this song from Doris Plenn, who had it from her North Carolina family. His version made this song fairly well known in the folk revival of the 1960s. Seeger's version omits much of the Christian wording of the original, and adds a verse. Most folk singers, including Enya, have followed Seeger's version.

The song received new prominence in 1991 when Irish singer Enya released a recording of the hymn on her album Shepherd Moons. It was also released as a single in the same year, with Oíche Chiún and 'S Fagaim Mo Bhaile appearing as additional tracks.

It is also sung by Dahlia Malloy (Minnie Driver) in the episode 'Virgin Territory' from Season One of FX's The Riches.

In his radio singing debut, actor Martin Sheen performed this song (using the Seeger lyrics) on A Prairie Home Companion in September 2007.

Recordings

• Gordon Bok, Ann Mayo Muir, & Ed Trickett on Turning Toward the Morning (1975)
• Noel Paul Stookey on Band & Body Works (1980)
• Arlo Guthrie on Precious Friend (1982)
• John McCutcheon on Water from Another Time (1989)
• Enya on Shepherd Moons (1991)
• Eva Cassidy on Eva by Heart (1997)
• Judy Collins on Portrait of an American Girl (2006)
• Chris Tomlin on See the Morning (2006)
• Bruce Springsteen on We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (2006)
• Laurie Lewis a single available on her website at: http://www.laurielewis.com/tunes.htm

Victoria Clark - "Fifteen Seconds of Grace" (2007)

External links

• Original words
• Seeger's lyrics
• Shaker vs. Non-Shaker Hymns
• A MIDI of the tune to the hymn.